News

Friday November 12, 2010


Assisted Suicide Ad by Australia’s ‘Dr. Death’ Set to Air in New Zealand

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

AUCKLAND, November 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A video promoting assisted suicide by Dr. Philip Nitschke, Australia’s “Dr. Death,” has been approved for broadcast by the New Zealand Commercial Approvals Bureau (CAB).

New Zealand Right to Life has blasted the CAB’s decision, saying that Nitchke’s video is “contrary to the common good and destructive of the social fabric.”

“Are the broadcasting standards in New Zealand lower than those in Australia and Canada where the video was previously banned for screening, because it was classified as objectionable and in breach of broadcasting standards?” the pro-life group questioned.

Nitschke, who heads up the pro-euthanasia organization “Exit International,” is scheduled to give a pair of talks this weekend in New Zealand, in Wellington and Auckland.

He has been on a tour recently promoting his suicide manual “The Peaceful Pill Handbook,” which is banned in Australia and New Zealand, and holding seminars on how to commit suicide. Last months’ tour through Canada was reported to have been poorly attended.

Alex Schadenberg, director of Canada’s Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, noted, “People who attended Philip Nitschke’s suicide seminars in Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal indicated that Nitschke didn’t seem happy with the response.” According to Schadenberg about 85 people attended the three seminars combined. “We hope that the Canadian government will make it more difficult for him to enter Canada in the future,” he said.

In a press release about Nitschke’s video, NZ Right to Life noted the inconsistency of the state-owned broadcaster showing a video promoting suicide while the government is spending millions of dollars on its Suicide Prevention Strategy to reduce suicide.

The group also observed that with an average of 500 suicides reported each year in New Zealand, and with one of the highest youth suicide rates in the world, “the screening of Dr. Nitschke’s suicide video would be socially irresponsible and result in an increase of suicides,” which would have “a profound effect on families and whole communities.”


Contact information:

TVNZ Television Centre

100 Victoria Street West

PO Box 3819

Auckland

Phone: +64 9 916 7000

Fax: +64 9 916 7934

Email: [email protected]

Commercial Approvals Bureau

PO Box 1298

Shortland Street

Auckland 1140

New Zealand

Phone: +64 9 373 2907

Fax: +64 9 373 2912

Email: [email protected]

See related LSN articles:

‘Plan Now for Suicide’ Australia’s Dr. Death Encourages Elderly Irish

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/mar/10032302.html

Vancouver Library Denies Venue to Suicide Group

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/sep/09092207.html

Euthanasia Provider to Alzheimer’s Patients: The Best Remedy is Death

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08062008.html

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